Vestry meetings were regular gatherings to decide issues of local interest. On occasion polls were taken. For instance, the controversial matter of imposing a church rate was settled after four days of polling on 24 November 1836 by 1,702 in favour and 1,389 against.

October 1928Sunday cinema opening
Hove Borough Council had resisted Sunday cinema opening from the start—a stance upheld by the Divisional Court of Appeal in March 1915. A vote in the Council in June 1926 retained the ban by one vote. Four years before national legislation permitted referendums on the subject, Hove Borough Council arranged a local poll (technically not a referendum) as the equivalent of a town meeting.

share of

share of

votes

electorate

n

%

%

Polling cards issued

20,890

for

6,579

53.7

31.5

against

5,664

46.3

27.1

'turnout'

58.6

5 June 1975Continuing membership of the European Economic Community
The first ever national referendum was in fulfilment of a pledge in the Labour Party's manifesto for the 1974 general election to allow the people to decide if the UK should remain a member of the EEC, which it has joined under the Conservative government in 1973. Nationally, in a 65 per cent turnout, the vote in favour of continued membership was 67 per cent. Votes were declared by county.

Do you think that the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (The Common Market)?

East Sussex

share of

share of

votes

electorate

n

%

%

Yes

249,780

74.15

48.84

No

86,198

25.59

16.85

Spoiled ballot papers

775

0.23

0.15

turnout

65.86

electorate

511,437

18 October 2001Directly elected mayor
Local authorities were required by the Local Government Act 2000 c.22 to move from the committee model then prevailing to an executive model, led by an elected mayor if the local electorate approved. Accordingly referendums have been held to date (April 2013) in 37 local authorities, 13 of which were in favour of an elected mayor, 24 against. Brighton and Hove's referendum was the first, and so far only, all-postal vote held in the city.

share of

share of

votes

electorate

n

%

%

Postal votes cast

59,938

Yes

22,724

37.9

12.0

No

37,214

62.1

19.6

'turnout'

31.6

5 May 2011Alternative vote
One of the conditions imposed by the Liberal Democrats in return for forming a coalition with the Conservative Party was that a referendum should be held about replacing 'first-past-the-post' elections with the alternative vote (AV). The referendum was held on the same day as many local elections, including that for Brighton & Hove City Council. The only parliamentary constituencies to vote in favour of change were six London boroughs and four others around the country: Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh Central and Glasgow Kelvin. Brighton & Hove, however, had the narrowest margin against of any constituency.

At present, the UK uses the 'first-past-the-post' system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the 'alternative vote' system be used instead?

votes

electorate

n

%

%

Yes

43,948

49.86

22.53

No

44,198

50.14

22.65

turnout

45.18

22 May 2014Council tax
A referendum on a 4.75 per cent increase in council tax was proposed by the minority Green Party adminstration, subject to agreement by the full council at its meeting on 27 February 2014. Any local authority that wishes to implement 'an excessive increase in council tax' (defined for the current year as being more than two per cent) must hold a referendum under the coalition government's Localism Act 2011, which amends the Local Government Finance Act 1992. The date set was that of the elections for the European Parliament. The election would have cost £230,000, compared with £350,000 if held on a different day from the European election. In the end a settlement was reached and the referendum was not held.

23 June 2016European Union (Brexit)
The referendum on whether to remain in or leave the European Union was the most bitterly contested and divisive of any election in modern times. Nationally the result, by a relatively small margin, was to leave. Locally the result was very different.

Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?